Structural change towards diversification and competitiveness is important to make our economies productive, wealthy and sustainable. In market economies, structural change is essentially driven by private entrepreneurs who challenge incumbents with new business ideas and take risks to implement...

Since the 1980s, international production patterns have fundamentally changed, creating opportunities for developing countries to integrate into global value chains (GVCs). Morocco, which is among the first countries in the Middle East and North Africa to pursue an export-led economic policy,...

Under the German Presidency of the G20 in 2017, the Compact with Africa (CWA) was launched with the goal of mobilising private capital and promoting the efficient use of public resources so as to increase private and infrastructure investment in Africa. In this discussion paper, we provide a...

The structural transformation of countries moves them towards more sophisticated, higher-value products. Network analysis, using the Product Space Methodology (PSM), guides countries towards leading export sectors. The identification process rests on two pillars: (1) available opportunities,...

Similar to other countries in North Africa, Morocco’s economic model finds itself at a crossroads. The uprisings and subsequent revolutions in many Arab countries in the wake of the 2011 “Arab Spring” have shown that the social contract prevailing in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)...

The structural transformation of countries moves them towards more sophisticated, higher-value products. Network analysis, using the Product Space Methodology (PSM), guides countries towards leading export sectors. The identification process rests on two pillars: (1) available opportunities,...

Although Thailand and India are two of the world’s largest producers and exporters of fruits and vegetables, both countries suffer from severe food-safety and quality problems with its domestic and export-oriented produce. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development,...

Private investments in climate-change adaptation are important. First, because the costs of adaptation are too high to be met by the public sector alone. And second, developed countries pledged to mobilise USD 100 billion annually by 2020 to support developing countries’ climate change...

Irrigation can help to improve and stabilise agricultural productivity, thereby contributing to food security and to resilience against climate change. Irrigation – either full or supplementary – reduces reliance on erratic rainfall/droughts and increases yields; it extends cropping periods...

Around 2031, Africa’s working-age population will pass the 1-billion threshold. This growing workforce will require decent productive employment. So far, Africa’s economies have largely failed to create stable and well-paid jobs. For any one person working in the formal private sector, 10...